Harry Potter und die Heiligtümer des Todes is a record breaker. Bookseller.com reported that the German-language edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,
which went on sale Saturday, October 27, sold more than one million
copies in the first 24 hours, "marking a 13.5% lift on sales of the
previous title. The English-language original sold 500,000 copies on
the launch day and has sold more than a million copies to date."
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"This
year, Internet retailers are dangling a more-generous assortment of
offers--including free shipping, web-only discounts and gift wrap--to
motivate impulse buys from shoppers concerned about falling home values
and higher gasoline prices," the Wall Street Journal writes.
Consumers are expected to spend $33 billion online between Thanksgiving
and Christmas, according to Forrester Research, up 21% from last year.
Predictions for holiday sales in general are less rosy--a 4% gain to
$474.5 billion is below the 10-year average annual growth rate of 4.8%.
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Long
hours, low (or no) wages and deep commitment are required of young
people working in the British publishing industry, and some just don't
like the deal. A lively discussion ensued in the wake of Katherine
Rushton's Bookseller.com
post last week, which opened provocatively and with a nod to
Jane Austen: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that the lower
rungs of publishing are populated by young, middle-class, Oxbridge
girls in want of a decent salary."
The flurry of responses inspired a follow-up
in which Rushton shared reader comments and suggested that "concern
over low pay in publishing is prompting junior publishing staff to
consider leaving their jobs."
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The "secret librarian handshake" has been revealed at last by junior high school librarian Brad Barker in the Modesto Bee:
"At special ceremonies, librarians bump their right forearms together
as a sign of solidarity (some baseball players known as the Bash
Brothers stole this move from us). After the forearm bump, we touch
thumbs and twist them as a symbol for the Dewey Decimal point."
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Once upon a time, the Guardian
challenged three authors--Hilary Mantel, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and
Audrey Niffenegger--to write "fairy tales fit for the 21st century."
Mantel's
ends like this: "I cannot say that they all lived happily ever after.
In a country where people walk around with their heads under their
arms, is that likely? But I can say that, having found her soul in a
cupboard, and having recognised herself at last, the princess prepared
for a happy death. As I do, and so I hope do you, and so I hope do we
all. Amen."
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Tim Nast and Phillip Titolo, first-year law students at the University of Connecticut, have organized Maplewood Books for Humanity, "collecting hundreds of books and paying to send them to schools in English-speaking African nations," according to the Hartford Courant.
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The difficulties of self-publishing are explored in today's Wall Street Journal.
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Congratulations!
Effective tomorrow, Angela Bole is leaving the Book Industry Study
Group, where she has worked for three years, most recently as associate
director, to become events manager in John Wiley & Sons'
professional and trade division.
In a note about the change, Bole said that she and BISG executive
director Michael Healy, who joined the organization a year ago, have
been working on a transition since September and a successor should be
announced shortly. At least week's BISG annual meeting, Healy praised
Bole for her "tremendous work over three years," adding that she "made
my transition into my role much more easy than it otherwise would be."